2008 Corvette Funfest - A League Of Their Own

Corvette Challenge Cars Take Center Stage At Funfest '08

It's hard to imagine what 15,000 Corvettes in one place look like, but this view gives a pretty good idea. For the full effect, though, you've got to walk each row of cars. (Photo courtesy Mid America Motorworks)

It's hard to imagine seeing 15,000 Corvettes in one place. But then again, it's also hard to imagine how Mike Yager, a former tool-and-die maker, was able to turn a business run out of the trunk of his car into a multi-million-dollar industry leader in Corvette parts and accessories. Nonetheless, he did, and it's Mid America Motorworks, the company he created, that hosts Corvette Funfest. An annual customer appreciation party usually thrown in September, Funfest draws 15,000 Corvettes to the Mid America corporate campus in Effingham, Illinois, effectively quadrupling the town's population over a long weekend.

"You've got to come," the Mid America folks told me last year when I was covering the Walter Mitty Challenge. And come I did. Having penciled in the September 19-21 dates on my mental calendar, when the 18th rolled around, I fueled up my blacked-out Crown Vic Police Interceptor and headed north through Tennessee and Kentucky to Effingham. Perhaps it was a travesty to drive a Ford, but what Corvette get-together is complete without a Crown Vic in the rearview?

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Funfest has traditionally been held on the corporate campus of Mid America Motorworks, which contains the Performance Choice manufacturing facility, Mike Yager's MY Garage museum, and a seemingly endless collection of automotive memorabilia.

Theoretically, I could have flown, but somehow it seemed wrong not to drive. Besides, the nearest airport is in Indianapolis. So after 10 hours of road construction, accident cleanups, and endless cups of coffee, I straggled into the Fairfield Inn, past the framed Funfest Corvette Challenge poster on an easel in the lobby. Fortunately, my reservations were made a couple of months earlier: Many of the hotels have special event rates for Funfest, but if they don't have any rooms left, the rate hardly matters.

Now is a good time to point out that Funfest isn't a car show; it's called a "customer appreciation party," and that's pretty accurate. The leading item at the top of the calendar of events reads, "All Day...Have Fun." There's no cost to attend, and there's a vast spectrum of things to do over the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday that comprise the event. From tours of Mid America's facilities to displays set up by Corvette-parts vendors (many of whom will do installations on the spot) and autograph sessions and seminars with some of the top names in the hobby, the only hard part is trying to see everything. In addition, every year Funfest has a theme, usually related to one or more of the cars that reside in Mike Yager's MY Garage museum. Last year, it was Corvette Summer; this year the chosen cars were the Corvette Challenge cars from 1988 and 1989.

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Although traffic flow is carefully managed through color-coded gates, it takes some time for the flow of Corvettes to make its way onto the grounds. Expect to idle a while and enjoy the view--you won't get many chances to see this many Vettes in one place.

Not long after its introduction in 1984, the C4 Corvette went on to absolutely flog the competition in the SS class of the SCCA's Showroom Stock Endurance Championship. With a record of 19-0 during its three years of dominance, the Corvette won the '87 manufacturer's title by 81-7, understandably upsetting other manufacturers--specifically, Porsche, who wasn't used to getting its clock cleaned so monotonously. "While we would be content to thrash our competition eternally," the poster announcing the Corvette Challenge read, "the gruesome sight proved to be too brutal for the SCCA." Sort of. It was actually too brutal for the boys from Stttgart, who threatened to take their toys and go home if SCCA didn't ban the Corvette from competition.

So, with Teutonic efficiency, the best Corvette yet was thrown out on its ear. Enter John Powell, who was running a race series in Canada. Largely by force of personality, he convinced Goodyear, Exxon, and the then-much-smaller Mid America to put up a total of $1 million to start a new, Corvette-only race series. With sponsorships in hand, he approached Chevrolet and asked them to produce 50 factory race cars for the series he had named the Corvette Challenge. Although the General had been conscientiously aloof from racing for decades, Powell's persuasive power carried the day. On March 29th, five months after being tossed out of SCCA, the identical factory racers were delivered to their teams at Chevrolet's Central Office in Warren, Michigan.

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2008 Corvette Funfest - A League Of Their Own

It's hard to imagine what 15,000 Corvettes in one place look like, but this view gives a pretty good idea. For the full effect, though, you've got to walk each row of cars. (Photo courtesy Mid America Motorworks)

Funfest has traditionally been held on the corporate campus of Mid America Motorworks, which contains the Performance Choice manufacturing facility, Mike Yager's MY Garage museum, and a seemingly endless collection of automotive memorabilia.

Although traffic flow is carefully managed through color-coded gates, it takes some time for the flow of Corvettes to make its way onto the grounds. Expect to idle a while and enjoy the view--you won't get many chances to see this many Vettes in one place.

"Install Alley" is the area where aftermarket components purchased at Funfest are installed on-site while you wait. Exhaust systems are a particularly popular upgrade, with Billy Boat, Borla, and Corsa all exhibiting at Funfest.

The '88 and '89 Corvette Challenge grew out of the C4's competitive dominance, which eventually led to the car's ouster from the SCCA. Two years of raucous driving later, the series was canceled, making instant collectibles out of the Chevrolet-produced factory racers.

Unlike the '88 Challenge cars, the '89s had exhaust pipes that exited through the rear bodywork. Adding a little extra exhaust noise certainly didn't hurt the popularity of the series.

One of the few visual cues that separated the Challenge cars from their street-going counterparts, these aluminum Dymag wheels provided better brake cooling than the stock rollers.

Racing seats with the series logo were another change that helped make the Challenge cars suitable for life on the track.

Challenge-car engines were dyno-tested to ensure that each one was making identical power. GM used special green paint (seen here on the valve-cover and intake-manifold bolts) to seal the engines and prevent tampering.

Mike Yager, founding father of Mid America. In addition to being a part of the Corvette Challenge panel discussion, Yager could be found autographing copies of his Corvette Bible, presenting the Celebrity Choice awards, and generally serving as the host of Funfest.

The new ZR1 was one of the stars of the show. GM engineers provided both walk-arounds of the car as well as rides--all well and good until that nasty incident with the Sheriff's deputy.

Celebrity Choice awards were handed out at the end of each day. My personal pick, this restomodded '58 featured C4 running gear under a clean, well-thought-out C1 body and interior--a very impressive piece of work.

Yager presents Jeff Barnett with a Celebrity Choice award for his '68 custom. Stay tuned for an upcoming article on the freshly built shark, which was selected by Editor Heath. (That's him with the gray shirt and matching hair.)

Corvette culture is about nothing if not patriotism. This C4 tribute car is dedicated to the victims and heroes of 9/11 as well as the owner's Christian faith and military service in Vietnam.

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